In Die Welt of 16 September 2015 a text of Deputy President of the IPN Paweł Ukielski was published. It is a response to the article by Jan T. Gross entitled „No sense of shame”.

Paweł Ukielski writes:
On 14 September 2015 Jan T. Gross published the text of the alleged contemporary xenophobia of Poles in the context of the crimes dating back to the Second World War.

Gross begins his historical considerations with the claim which is as much spectacular as it is false: that during the war the Poles killed more Jews than Germans. Let us examine the facts. Poland was the first country attacked by the Third Reich that took the fight. On 17 September it was attacked by Hitler's ally, the Soviet Union, which prevented further resistance. The government evacuated to the West, and in France the Polish army was created that later participated in the Franco-German War and the Battle of Britain. After the outbreak of German-Soviet war two Polish armies were created on the Soviet territory. The soldiers were Poles deported there by the Soviet regime. Polish soldiers fought in Africa, Italy, liberating France and the Netherlands. In occupied Poland, the Polish Underground State was created, possessing the army, which has taken openly fighting during the Warsaw Uprising. Polish war losses are estimated at 6 million victims and enormous material damage.

Contrary to Gross's claims, the actions of thousands of people who rescued Jews were not taken only on their own. The Polish Underground State clearly indicated its attitude to genocide against the Jewish people, criminalizing offences and denunciations. In this framework, the Council of Aid to Polish Jews „Zegota" operated. The Polish representative was Jan Karski, who has carried a report about the Holocaust to the Polish and English authorities, and then showed it to President Roosevelt. It is also via his agency that Poland unsuccessfully demanded help for the Jews.

This does not mean that among Poles there were not criminals and individuals deteriorated by the war. But one cannot compare the crimes committed on one's own behalf and against the Polish state with the totalitarian machinery of genocide having state legitimacy of the Third Reich.

The exact numbers are not known. We do not know how many Jews died at the hands of Poles, and how many were denounced. It is also difficult to estimate the number of Germans killed by Poles on the fronts of World War II and in the occupied country. All our knowledge of history, however, suggests that the losses inflicted by Poles to Germans are much higher than the number of victims of crimes against the Jewish fellow citizens.

In Poland there is a consensus that every crime deserves condemnation. At the same time, a similar unanimity applies to the disagreement with the relativism of history, blurring responsibility and falsifying facts.

Paweł Ukielski
Deputy President of the IPN